I’m sorry you feel that way. I’m going to miss you

Although I can’t – and don’t – respond to everything that I receive, I do read it all.

Most of the negative stuff is just hit and run insults. I frequently get asked to do things to myself that, if I were capable and willing, would form the basis for a good career at a carnival.

Occasionally, someone sits down and has a deep think and writes to me. I respect that. I may not always agree, but they get my time, I think it over, and sometimes I also respond.

I’d like to share this example with you. The email was titled “One man’s thoughts”.

Hi Cameron

I used to read your blog now and then, I won’t be anymore. Journalism is like restaurants or any form of business I come into contact with as the customer, they do things I like, I’m their customer, they do things I don’t like, I simply walk and no longer remain a customer. I am not a highly political person Cameron although I vote at national and local elections without fail, do nothing get nothing is what I believe. I don’t elect people based on what their sex life is like, only very dark states and organisations would have those measures in place before they elected their leaders.

I don’t know Mr Brown apart from the fact he is the Mayor of Auckland and seems to be doing OK at that job and has done for some time now, someone finally spending money on critical infrastructure so the place can function and grow and even the National Government begrudgingly agrees with Auckland’s Labour backed Mayor. So from that standpoint for me as a Ratepayer he’s doing well compared to some previous examples. BTW I voted National in our National elections and for Mr Brown in the local body elections.

Cameron, people make mistakes in life, it’s part of being a normally functioning human being. It doesn’t mean that’s each time you become aware of someone making a mistake that its an invitation for you, or anyone else for that matter, to dig up the intimate details of peoples sex life, no matter who they are. That is a matter for the people involved in the various relationships that will be affected. If that is the case you have a pretty sad existence in my view.

Should you become aware of some well-known or public figure in New Zealand having a sexual relationship outside of marriage, by all means let your readers know once you have irrefutable evidence of that happening. Becoming aware that the Mayor was having a sexual relationship outside of his marriage is probably news and by all means front up to the Mayor face to face and put that to him as part of you testing the evidence you have. Ask the man face to face for a response, however there is a world of difference between having the maturity and good sense to do that, and lacking the maturity and common decency in what’s loosely called “Journalism” these days and printing every intimate & private detail of sexual acts between two consenting adults.

You seem to lack the maturity to know where to stop, and also not to understand the immense and long term hurt that you’re reporting of such personal and private matters, is going to cause the innocent members of at least one family in this matter probably both families ? They are people who are already in very tough places as they deal with closely personal and intimate matters being made public in great detail. Sitting back and simply following the right wing style of puritanical, immature US styled media rubbish that seems to seep out of the US in ever increasing volumes, masquerading as “NEWS” as you have, in my view reads like something adolescent’s would write on dunny walls at school. It only serves to hurt the Mayors family even more than this affair would be hurting them all already. So the way the matter was reported by you really serves no purpose unless you are in the pocket of the Mayors political opponents or it’s all been done to press the knife into the families, in the emotional sense, just that little bit harder ?

It would be bad enough that Mr Browns wife and daughters have to deal with this as a private matter, without this self-righteous sort of stuff out there Cameron. Just because people today live in an instant and somewhat thoughtless digital “it’s all about me” world, where it seems as if it’s OK for anything and everything to be out there, doesn’t make it right and you may realise that one day.

Wait till you’ve been on the earth a while longer Cameron and see if you still have this misguided attitude of hanging everyone else’s lives out on the line and kicking it for all its worth to keep it going for a few bucks, me old mate ? If you attain old age, I would venture to say you will not look back on this period in your life and say “man I’m proud of doing that”

Let hope we all (yes you as well Cameron) become model human beings from here on in and never transgress in our private lives, if your behaviour in respect to this matter is a measure of what should and shouldn’t be published I can see how journalism is in such trouble today. An old saying springs to mind Cameron, “be careful for what you wish for” because the future is yet to happen to all of us and no one knows what we may face as we go forward in life.

Cameron, when I was about 23 or so and my private life was in all sorts of trouble (a good few years back now) a good friend of mine was having a drink with me at a function and some people present were commenting on someone else we all knew, who was having an affair outside of marriage and they were very critical. My friend who was 20 years my senior said to those who were so quick and strong in judging someone else about a private matter: – We should all be cautious in our judgement, because often the mistakes of others could easily have been ours if we’d had the same opportunity to make them. I never forgot it, I urge you to remember it.

Cameron I won’t be a reader of Whale Oil any longer, I wish you well as a person and in closing all I would say is, Try thinking of other people with as much energy as you currently think about yourself and what you want to do. Apply that principal to your work and see what good comes of it then, it can still be hard hitting and sell what-ever it is that makes you money. Should you do that Cameron, I would suggest the maturity you currently lack that I alluded to previously, will come and then you may be able achieve things in terms of reporting newsworthy events that people will regard your work as real journalism and be you may be able to look back on your work and say “Man I’m proud of that”.

Of course, I did reply to that

That is a good long email, but ignores one major point.
Everyone is quick to shoot the messenger, as you have done, and yes people can and do make mistakes, including me, but once is a mistake, two years, plus the involvement of other women is a problem…a bad habit, a pathology of lying, deceit and subterfuge. This was not a mistake from Len Brown…it is a continuing pattern of behaviour and poor judgement from the man who wants to lead the city…if his judgement is so poor with regards to women god only knows what he is doing with our rates.

For the record I did put this to the mayor…he declined to comment and instead hid behind his multi-million dollar ratepayer funding team of spin weasels.

He conducted an affair with his first wife…with his now second wife…and there are other women as you will find out in coming days.

I am glad you think that is the behaviour that is acceptable for our leaders. But it is not something that I will ever subscribe to.

It is not my fault that people got hurt. It is extremely naive to even suggest that it is my fault. To suggest that is my fault is like blaming the rocks at the bottom of the cliff for the fatal injuries sustained by the rock climber who fell because he didn’t use the right climbing equipment or safety equipment.

The person responsible for the all the hurt, sham and derision the mayor and his family faces is only one person…Mayor Len Brown. The man who also used his spin weasels to pimp his children and family to the media just two days after demanding privacy and respect for them. The man barely shows the same toward his own family and and the cheek to demand it of others.

Hope you enjoy life without reading Whaleoil.

Cheers

Cam

Much as I would like to tie my readers to a chair and put match sticks under their eyelids to make them a captive audience, each and every one of you are here out of your own free will (excepting the few poor souls that are told to read Whaleoil for their job! *chuckle*)

So I get absolutely no joy from receiving emails that tell me some boundary of tolerance has been reached by someone where they now have reached the limit and are no longer interested. I realise that for every person that sits down and takes the time to tell me how they feel, there are more I’ve lost along the way.

Of course, that’s not a process that happens in isolation. As people feel Whaleoil is no longer a place to spend their disposable time, others discover it and find a new place to direct their attention.

If you’re leaving, thanks for your time over the years. Be assured your absence isn’t shrugged off. And in a sense we will miss you.

And to those that have recently joined – welcome. I don’t expect you will always agree or feel entertained. You may feel outraged and angry. Some readers even feel disappointed and let down at times. But this is part of the relationship between blog and its readers. If I can make you feel something, then don’t be scared to hang around.

“You seem to lack the maturity to know where to stop, and also not to
understand the immense and long term hurt that your… [sexual behaviour] is going to cause the innocent members of
at least one family in this matter probably both families”

God

GarethsPussy

Keep up the great work, Cameron.

We don’t have a right wing media in New Zealand – you are filling a gap.
As the hooker said to the priest…..

Nick

With respect to the writer, they completely miss the point, like most of the public and basically everyone in the MSM.

The affair is irrelevant. If infidelity was a crime hundreds of thousands of kiwis would be in jail. It is the multiple conflicts of interest, the questions raised over the council code of conduct, inappropriate use of the office of Mayor (and I don’t mean whacking off onto the furniture or fucking in the iwi chamber) and the acceptance of gifts in situations where you could be seen as beholden to the giver.

There are just so many serious unanswered questions in this sordid little tale that will not go away until they are answered fully. I feel like our MSM is losing interest already unfortunately – this doesn’t even feature on the front page of Stuff or the NZH anymore.

Unfortunately I feel like Brown is going to get off scot-free with this despite the efforts of our host. The NZH and TV3 looks like it is going to run more stories about Palino and the “right wing conspiracy” tomorrow.

IMO, if this story doesn’t bring down Len Brown, WO may have achieved something even more important – highlighting to the greater public how utterly biased and corrupt they are. That they could swallow Len’s hypocritical PR bullshit and lose interest in the vitally important questions above shocks me (even though not much shocks me in our MSM anymore).

Daniel

I appreciate your work Cam.

I’m sure you didn’t plan out several months in advance that a mistress would present herself to be the basis for a story on Len Brown, I mean, only the Herald plans out scandals in advance.

I do have one comment to make about Len Brown. When he did those TV ads for his re-election and he talked about Auckland being a multi-cultural city, I had no idea he had taken it upon himself to personally try and populate the city with multi-cultural residents.

MarcWills

The day I agree with everything I read on WhaleOil, is the day I too will lose interest with your Blog. This man/woman seems to want to live in a world where unicorns frolic with Leprechans in a place that is surrounded by rainbows. Sometimes a Billy Gruff turns up, and it’s OK to say you don’t approve of their behaviour, and to point out their failings so they know why and as a message to other Gruffs.

LesleyNZ

Two years is a long mistake.
“He conducted an affair with his first wife…with his now second wife…and there are other women as you will find out in coming days…..”
This is a pattern of behaviour .

Garbageman

two very well thought out cognitive points of view and possibly two of the best debate wise from opposing views,for myself i am sorta new to whaleoil and wont be going any where as long as i can get the truth unbiased or not that the msm wont provide us, keep it up Cam Cheers

Nechtan

Ditto Garbageman, I’m new and I’m not going anywhere either, and keep up the good work Cam and the others (Nick, James, Pete etc…)

Garbageman & Nechtan, I’m also new to the site, 2 weeks or so, my timing could not have been better! Had stopped reading the Herald apart from the weather report & the share market page. WO & all contributors thank you. I haven’t had so many laughs for years!

Mr Sackunkrak

Yes, compare and contrast Rudman, and the rest of the lefty media for that matter.

Steve (North Shore)

The ‘One Mans Thoughts’ author will not stop reading this blog. What choice does he have? The Stranded, The Horrid or here

4077th

He will be back, they always are. Even Le Ringmeat and Fozzie can’t stay away after a good kicking.

Does anyone know if gayguy tied the knot? He hasn’t been around to tell us haters off for awhile.

4077th

Confirmed 3 way with Andrei and Lucia. A roman triangle of lust!

Andy

Two people with differing views having a polite email exchange
How refreshing

middleagedwhiteguy

Cam. Personally I agree with most of what you say. There are times you do go too far but this is not one of them. You are more of a gun nut than I am and while we have differing views on Gun Control in the US and I feel that something needs to be done to control the gun culture in the US, but I am enough of a realist to know that horse has well and truly bolted.

Even though you are tough, combative, abrasive and at times divisive, the one thing I cannot critcise is your honesty and integrity. We are never in doubt as to where you stand, and you never hide your true colours.

I wish the MSM could be so honest.

Orange

kiss ass

Toryboy

You can always tell a Labour spin machine beat up email, or comment, with the usual line “I always vote National” and it is a wonder Cam doesn’t know how to spot that a mile away!
It’ll have been written by some apparatchik in Fraser House – expect 10000 more of them.

Ruahine

That is what I thought.

Peej

The letter writer makes a mistake in thinking that Cameron should pay homage to some sort of journalistic ethics or mores. He makes the mistake of thinking that Cameron’s audience in the main would show a modicum of well-used consideration and enlightenment and be rational as he (the writer) is and Cameron should write for them accordingly. He makes the mistake of thinking that Cameron doesn’t get it.

The letter writer has learned you can’t wear nice clean fluffy slippers or patent leather stilettos down through the paddocks to check the effluent pond. I always put my gumboots on for that. And to come here.

Are you serious? it is far too coherent, no cuss words or physical threats of violence, no/few spelling/grammatical errors and it appears to be well thought out.

So tell me, which part of it honestly makes you think it is dad4justice? besides, he imploded and left commenting here long before I even became part of the WO team.

4077th

I obviously have a lot more maturing to go! Keep it up Cam Whaleoil is my personal coffe shop in the cloud.

Phar Lap

Well if it aint old Lascivious Lenny the sex mechanic.

Sidey

They’ll be back. It’s easy to say “I won’t read WO again” but of course they could be back 5 mins later & no-one would know. Coming here is a hard habit to shake, especially if you want to know what’s actually happening.

Just when you think you’re out, they drag you back in…

James Howlett

You can check out any time you like but… :)

Jeremy

I don’t often agree with your views but respect that you have them and express them without fear. Your positions often force me to examine critically my own. That is why I read you. The issue with Len is not his lack of morality, but his lack of judgement in this case. The utter stupidity of his bonk on the side with its inevitability of being found out is as stupid as having a fag by an open can of petrol. He has demonstrated a complete lack of basic judgement, which calls into question his ability to do his job. If he wanted to play around he could have done it with much less chance of discovery. I wonder if he had some hidden desire to be found out!

LesleyNZ

Morality is still part of the issue. What is the cause of his lack of judgement?

opusx

His pecker, Lesley…his pecker.

Nechtan

As Robin Williams said “The problem is, God gave man a brain and a penis and only enough blood to run one at a time.”

Typical of you guys! What is the cause – not the effect!
By the way who is that woman that is always with Len? She is not young and has greyish short hair. She has been with him on telly walking in the council buildings. Maybe she is his minder.

Nechtan

The cause? Hmmm he’s an bloody idiot perhaps?

onelaw4all

“I don’t know Mr Brown apart from the fact he is the Mayor of Auckland and seems to be doing OK at that job and has done for some time now,”

-4000 points for credibility right there.

sheppy

Borrowings up to around 6 billion dollars with approx 1 million dollars a day wasted on interest, all in 3 years whilst basic services suffer and nothing obvious to show for it?
If that’s doing a good job I’d hate to see a bad one!!!!

Jester

Dear One Mans Thoughts.
Get a big black dog up you.
Kind Regards
The Whale Army

opusx

Sometimes one gets the feeling some readers of WO forget this is Cameron’s personal blog…he writes what he likes and what he feels. I choose to read his blog because he champions a moral code I believe NZ lost starting in the 90’s. It’s about being fair and reasonable, about being generally law abiding, about common sense. And though it may sound a bit non PC, it’s about giving men a voice. I know there are a ton of female readers and contributors…and my comment is in no way meant to demean or offend, but I know other male readers will know exactly what I am referring to.

Bunswalla

“We should all be cautious in our judgement, because often the mistakes of others could easily have been ours if we’d had the same opportunity to make them.”

Sorry mate, that’s complete BS and is the perennial cop-out of the philanderer. “It just happened”, “We fell in love and there was nothing I could do about it”. Everybody has the opportunity all of the time to make mistakes or do the right thing. Nobody has an affair and cheats on their wife once, let alone for 2 years – by accident.

If you put yourself in the way of temptation, if you pursue the moment after it’s over, if you chase the girl (or guy) to the point that something “happens” then that’s because you made it happen.

People have every right to be critical of someone that puts themselves up before the public as a family man, and parades his loving wife and family up on stage at his moment of triumph, and turns out to be a lying cheating dog.

Pissedoffyouth

Cool story bro

conwaycaptain

Didn’t know that Lascivious Loopy Len was on No 2.
Who will be no 3.

James Growley

You just stay as you are Cam. You are doing a fantastic job here with a quintillionth of MSM’s resources – As my old mum used to say “lang may yer lum reek”….

Grim

When will Len Brown apologize to the ratepayers of Auckland? Its the least he can do.

I dont really contribute to this blog but have been reading and enjoying it since day one, the comments the last few days on Len Brown posts have been gold. Thanks guys.

4077th

Len Brown and Apology are mutually exclusive!

Hazards001

TFLDNRIA..or toofuckinglongdidnotreaditall.

Good for that person. Take a moral stand and sick with it. If he or she is happy with loopy left wing Lens pissing away of our money on his self aggrandisement then that’s his/her right to be.
Me?
Well personally I think LBIAFCand don’t give a shit who knows it!

…..”Cameron, people make mistakes in life, it’s part of being a normally functioning human being. It doesn’t mean that’s each time you become aware of someone making a mistake that its an invitation for you, or anyone else for that matter, to dig up the intimate details of peoples sex life, no matter who they are”…….

Actually, it does matter who you are, and who is funding you to poke the help and play with yourself while “on the job”. The details, while salacious, do provide insight into the level of poor judgement and risk-taking the Mayor practices.

Auckland Council has one of the largest budgets in the country, funded by us, Auckland Ratepayers. I’m not happy to have someone who displays such disregard for the responsibility his role carries, playing with the City’s money – perhaps in the same slap-happy way he plays with his cock.

Maybe all of the Councillor’s can pole-vault around Town Hall, dropping their body-fluids where-ever they fancy – perhaps they’re all bomb-proof – answerable to no-one, because the rules they make for others and the standards they set for others, don’t apply to them.

I’m sure if Len Brown indulged in his extra-curricular activities outside of Council time and Council property and excluding people not employed by Council, no-one would give a toss. Who cares? This is not the case here.

Nechtan

Exactly!

Mr Sackunkrak

That’s the point I’ve been making. Had he been playing hide-the-sausage with the neighbour, at her place, after work, with no Council strings attached we might have a wee snigger had it even become public, but we wouldn’t otherwise have cared. It would have been a private matter.

Fuck me, Brown is a lawyer, did he not even think this through? Is his judgement as a lawyer and mayor of the largest city in the Southern Hemisphere THAT bad?

Lion_ess

An extension of using his council credit card for purchasing personal items. Thinks he’s so good, no-one will question him. Maybe he’ll cut his dick into little pieces if he’s allowed another go.

Mr Sackunkrak

Yeah, the one thing he did learn from his time at Manukau City Council, never use a Council credit card for Christmas hams, family dinners et el. He sure did look like a mayor riding high on the public dime back then.

Allan

I have only discovered this blog in the last five months, im kinda gutted I haven’t run into it sooner! always something thought provoking or worthy of wasting a little time on, Keep up the good work

pukakidon

This is another tale from one of those holier than thou individuals, who would prefer to hide their head in the sand and believe we live in fairy land. They have un-doubting faith in a Man who has campaigned on Honesty, Integrity and Family values. It is right to expose this sort of individual because they themselves elect to operate in the open public arena. Sorry “soppy” you can not have it both ways. Sometimes the truth hurts but it is essential you understand the caliber of the person the Auckland ratepayer has put their money and future in.

You can cry a river all you want to try and make people feel bad, but that only works for the naive and the drippy Kiwi that is satisfied to take it up the backside from these liars in public office.

He cheated and lied to his family, this woman and the ratepayers of Auckland. He is not a good man, even though the media like to make him out to be.

Good on you Cam for having the ballsacks to expose this deviant behaviour that seems to be common in the public service. I wish the NZ media was as honest and had the necessary integrity, rather than turning a blind eye to their friends.

Timboh

“Hi Cameron

I used to read your blog now and then, I won’t be anymore. “.

As they used to say “OK thanks for the feedback, would you mind closing the door on the way out…”

4077th

Probably a more down to earth approach would be don’t let the door hit you in your big fat ass on the way out!

Mr Sackunkrak

Your correspondent forgets that Brown put himself up to be returned to run a $1.5b local authority – that’s public money – rates and never mind the debt.

If he can’t control himself to the extent he has to have a wank at the mayoral desk, bang his mistress on our time and dime, provide references for a Council job while the woman it’s for is pleasuring his cock, is happy to use his position of power to have said cock pleasured, take freebies from parties who need his position of power to advance their interests, then, I have no faith in him being a faithful steward of that $1.5b of public money – ratepayers’ money.

If he is that free and easy with his morals and his cock – things that ought to be quite dear to him – what possible respect can we expect him to have for that which is not even his?

Nechtan

If I could give you a thousand upvotes I would.

Bunswalla

I would second that.

Mickrodge

You’ll be back Beth…

Greg Davis

Whale,

Keep it up. These troughers, and their supporters, need a constant good kick in the guts.

Sincerely,
for a more prosperous future.

Greg

Mr Sackunkrak

I couldn’t agree more! The MSM are no longer “the fourth estate” worthy of respect. They are venal partisans, part of the left’s machine. Just have a read of Rudman’s pile of shit today and tell me otherwise.

GregM

While I don’t agree with the writers thoughts, good on him / her for providing some feedback in a constructive and respectful manner.
You can’t please everyone , everytime.
Thanks Cam, Pete, Trav, et al for what you do. It does make a difference.
G.

Col

A well written letter, that was real good of him/her too do this. as we know everyone can say what they want, be it with WO or against WO, comments are here for us to agree or disagree, that’s what WO is about.
But the writer has forgotten that Len made all this happen, not WO, as Cam said, you can’t blame the rocks for being there at the bottom of the cliff when the climber fell.
Cam you will always have me here on WO and if you don’t like it tough shit.

Warren

Hi Cameron, Im a new reader, a month or so, love it your blogs and the comments.

Mr Sackunkrak

Nice to have you introduce yourself Warren, enjoy and have as much fun as you like along the way.

Sooty

I hope you do tell. Hopefully not too long. I will run out of popcorn, if you drag it out.

Mr_Blobby

Brown stain did front up, his reply was ” I neither agree with or disagree with the other party.”

Mr_Blobby

Brown stain did front up, his reply was ” I neither agree with or disagree with the other party.”

Kimbo

Real Mills & Boon stuff. Accomplished writer, appears contrived.

lolitasbrother

And to those that have recently joined – welcome. I don’t expect you will always agree or feel entertained. You may feel outraged and
angry. Some readers even feel disappointed and let down at times. But this is part of the relationship between blog and its readers. If I can make you feel something, then don’t be scared to hang around.

Yes OK, I think “one mans thoughts” were just a rave pontificate. I disagre with Whale Oil’s correspondent who can not visit a
site which makes him uncomfortable. What is the point of only reading stuff that does nothing but reinforce your own belief system .
Recently I got worried because Kiwiblog was not posting the poltical polls so I went over to the Standard
Well they were crowing like demented chooks on hormones about the latest poll.
I said I didn’t think it would last and that Cunnliffe was a flawed personality.
Well Jesus, the most obnoxious personality in the blogosphere [ Lynne , code name lprint ] opened up on me and in one sentence managed tocall me a wanker, a Munter and an idiot Troll.
All her little acolytes agreed. I looked up Munter in Google and it is a nasty description about a woman.
To me it is likely that Lynne at The Standard is a Munter. Certainly she has a filthy keyboard
But like your correspondent she will tolerate nothing but reinforcement of her own opinion.